The Empires in Transition; Deterioration of Imperial Leadership, Economic and Military Decline, and Cultural Conservatism (770-775)
The Deterioration of Imperial Leadership(WN)
having a strong and effective central authority was required to the Islamic empires
the Ottomans were lucky to have a series of talented sultans for three centuries
the Safavids and Mughals also share their effective rulers as well
eventually the three dynasties had rulers who were really greedy and spent a lot of money on personal pleasures than in tending to affairs of state
infamous rulers like Süleyman's successor Selim the Sot(reigned 1566-1574) and Ibrahim the Crazy(reigned 1640-1648), who demanded and spent to their limit that government officials overflowed and murdered him
political troubles often arose from religious tension
this was mostly from conservative muslims who were strongly opposed to any policies and practices that they considered affronts to Islam BS
they had a lot of influence in society because of their monopoly of education and involvement in the everyday lives and legal affairs of ordinary subjects BS
Economic and Military Decline (EJC start)
Economic Difficulties
*In the sixteenth century, all the Islamic empires had strong domestic economies and played good role in global trade networks.
*By the eighteenth century, however, domestic economies were under great stress and foreign trade had declined dramatically.
*The high cost of maintaining an expensive military helped to bring about economic decline in the Islamic empires.
*As long as the empires were expanding, they were able to finance their military source with limited resources.
*But, an expansion slowed and the empires lost control over remote provinces, selling public offices, accepting bribes, or resorting to simple extortion.
*None of the Imperial authorities made serious efforts to establish commercial stations abroad. Military Decline
*The Islamic empires did not seek actively to improve their military technologies.
*In the fifteenth century, the Ottomans had relied heavily on European technology in gunnery.
*During the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, the Islamic empires were able to purchase European weapons in large numbers.
*But, about the mid-seventeenth century, European military technology was advancing so rapidly that the Islamic empires could not keep pace.
*The Islamic empires still were able to purchase European weapons and expertise, but their arsenals became increasingly dated, since they depended on technologies that European peoples had already replace. (EJC end)
Cultural Conservatism (SK)
*The Islamic empires also neglected thier cultural developmets
*Piri Reis:
-an Ottoman admiral and cartographer, produced several large-scale maps and a major navigational text called "The Book of Seafaring" which drew on reports and maps from European mariners and explorers
*Cultural Conservatism:
-Muslims were confident of their superiority and believed that they had nothing to learn from European (thus remaining mostly oblivious to European cultural and technological developments- SG)
-Muslim clerics believed that foreign implements were impious and unnecessary
*The Printing Press:
-Jewish refugees from Spain introduced the first printing presses to Anatolia in the late fifteenth century.
-they were allowed to operate presses as long as you did not print books in Turkish or Arabic; this ban was lifted in 1729
-printing presses caught on slowly in Mughal India, translated the Bible, rulers displayed little interest, not prominent until British colonial rule was established in Bengal in the eighteeth century.
-some liked the elegant handwritten books, better, and others (Muslim conservative leaders) worried about the spread of unfaithful or challenging ideas
-Islamic authorities actively discouraged the circulation of ideas that might pose unsettling challenges to the social and cultural order of the Islamic emperors (SG)
-The Ottoman, Safavid, and Mughal emperors preferred political and social stability to the risks that foreign cultural innovation might bring (SG)
The Empires in Transition; Deterioration of Imperial Leadership, Economic and Military Decline, and Cultural Conservatism (770-775)
The Deterioration of Imperial Leadership(WN)
Economic and Military Decline (EJC start)
Economic Difficulties*In the sixteenth century, all the Islamic empires had strong domestic economies and played good role in global trade networks.
*By the eighteenth century, however, domestic economies were under great stress and foreign trade had declined dramatically.
*The high cost of maintaining an expensive military helped to bring about economic decline in the Islamic empires.
*As long as the empires were expanding, they were able to finance their military source with limited resources.
*But, an expansion slowed and the empires lost control over remote provinces, selling public offices, accepting bribes, or resorting to simple extortion.
*None of the Imperial authorities made serious efforts to establish commercial stations abroad.
Military Decline
*The Islamic empires did not seek actively to improve their military technologies.
*In the fifteenth century, the Ottomans had relied heavily on European technology in gunnery.
*During the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, the Islamic empires were able to purchase European weapons in large numbers.
*But, about the mid-seventeenth century, European military technology was advancing so rapidly that the Islamic empires could not keep pace.
*The Islamic empires still were able to purchase European weapons and expertise, but their arsenals became increasingly dated, since they depended on technologies that European peoples had already replace. (EJC end)
Cultural Conservatism (SK)
*The Islamic empires also neglected thier cultural developmets*Piri Reis:
-an Ottoman admiral and cartographer, produced several large-scale maps and a major navigational text called "The Book of Seafaring" which drew on reports and maps from European mariners and explorers
*Cultural Conservatism:
-Muslims were confident of their superiority and believed that they had nothing to learn from European (thus remaining mostly oblivious to European cultural and technological developments- SG)
-Muslim clerics believed that foreign implements were impious and unnecessary
*The Printing Press:
-Jewish refugees from Spain introduced the first printing presses to Anatolia in the late fifteenth century.
-they were allowed to operate presses as long as you did not print books in Turkish or Arabic; this ban was lifted in 1729
-printing presses caught on slowly in Mughal India, translated the Bible, rulers displayed little interest, not prominent until British colonial rule was established in Bengal in the eighteeth century.
-some liked the elegant handwritten books, better, and others (Muslim conservative leaders) worried about the spread of unfaithful or challenging ideas
-Islamic authorities actively discouraged the circulation of ideas that might pose unsettling challenges to the social and cultural order of the Islamic emperors (SG)
-The Ottoman, Safavid, and Mughal emperors preferred political and social stability to the risks that foreign cultural innovation might bring (SG)